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Anakin Skywalker
This article is about Anakin Skywalker. You may be looking for the character's alternate form. Anakin Skywalker (later known as Darth Vader) is the protagonist, later one of the main antagonists of the prequel film trilogy of the Star Wars universe, and the central character in the first six Star Wars films. In The Phantom Menace, he was portrayed by Jake Lloyd as a child, in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, he was portrayed by Hayden Christensen, while Sebastian Shaw played as the older Anakin in Return of the Jedi. In Star Wars: The Clone Wars, he was voiced by Matt Lanter throughout the series. He was a legendary Force-sensitive who served the Galactic Republic as a Jedi Knight, and later served the Galactic Empire as a Sith Lord. Born to Shmi Skywalker, later in life he became the secret husband of Padmé Amidala, the father of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, and the grandfather of Ben Solo. Background Personality As a child, Anakin was thoughtful, selfless, brave and highly intelligent for his age. As an adult, Anakin developed into a more prideful, reckless, impulsive, rebellious, headstrong and slightly naive young man, but he was still kind, caring, selfless, loyal, brave, highly intelligent and wise. Although he was a good-hearted person, he was known to hold grudges and could be short-tempered, hot-headed, impatient, difficult and emotionally insecure, but he commonly held these traits in check sometimes. He also despised being treated unjustly or being wrongly accused, and grew to hate being criticized or lectured. Despite his pride as a Jedi, Anakin was not above apologizing or admitting when he was wrong; unlike most members of the Jedi Order, he was capable of acknowledging his mistakes and learning from them. He was a generally honest person and despised lying and deception, from his friends, allies and enemies alike. He also disliked politics, correctly considering most politicians to be arrogant and greedy. As his fame grew, he became more prideful and overconfident, secretly believing that he was the best Jedi in the Order and that he could easily best any Jedi blindfolded with his lightsaber tied behind his back. Though he could be aggressive, violent, unpredictable and slightly arrogant (however, unlike Mace Windu, his pride was never to the point of being rude or disrespectful towards individuals he believed were inferior to him), Anakin still had a sense of justice, honor and good morals. He also carried guilt and remorse for his violent deeds and the loss of some of his loved ones, especially the loss of his mother Shmi Skywalker. Anakin's fear of losing the ones he cares about, and his desperation to find a way to stop them from dying; was ultimately one of the main reasons that led him to his fall to the Dark side of the Force. As a general within the ranks of the Grand Army of the Republic, Anakin was renowned for his leadership skills and admired by clones, Jedi and politicians alike. Because of this honest nature of his, he along with Qui-Gon Jinn, was the most honest and trustworthy member of the Jedi Order. Although he could be prideful, Anakin was also humble? or modest?, as he rarely boast about his success as a Jedi, or is victories in the Clone Wars. During the Clone Wars, Anakin, like his then-apprentice Ahsoka Tano, matured and became more responsible in many ways, but this apparently did not stop him from being reckless and impulsive sometimes. He was not as forgiving as his wife Padmé, as he rarely forgave people in general, particularly Obi-Wan, for constantly lying to him or deceiving him. Unlike his best friend and former mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin never blindly followed rules and orders; he nearly always did the right thing, even if it meant breaking rules or disobeying orders, if it was for the greater good. Despite his temper and emotional insecurities, Anakin was not prone to bouts of rage; unlike his grandson Ben Solo, later known as Kylo Ren, the latter who has far worse control over his temper and emotions. He was seemingly power-hungry, however, in truth, he did not desire more power to become stronger, so no force user can defeat him, Anakin wanted more power to stop his loved ones from dying and to save them from death. Though he was committed to the Jedi Order ever since he joined it, Anakin was conflicted about it, wanting to walk away from the Jedi Order at several points during the Clone Wars, particularly so because of his love (and marriage) to Padmé, whom he couldn't live without. Another source of conflict was his dwindling trust in the Jedi High Council, further fomented by Palpatine, and some of the Jedi council's (and Obi-Wan's) questionable decisions. Anakin was willing to do anything to protect those who he cared about, often resorting to the using the power of the Dark side of Force to do so. His tenuous trust and faith in the Jedi Order, particularly the Jedi High Council was shattered even further when he learned from a reluctant Obi-Wan that the Jedi council only intended to place Anakin on the council as a representative to Palpatine so they could use him to spy on the Supreme Chancellor's dealings, since Palpatine was his friend, not to mention the head of the Republic; he correctly viewed such an action as treason. This coupled with his frustration at the injustice at being kept at the rank of Jedi Knight well on the council, made him more and more bitter and distrustful of the Jedi council. His belief in them was shattered more and more as Anakin's closest friend, Palpatine, swayed him from trusting them. Slowly, his bond with everyone except Palpatine and his wife Padmé, was completely shaken and broken. Born out of this conflict was the Sith Lord, Darth Vader; possibly, if the Jedi council had trusted him, not constantly lied to him, deceive him, and given him the respect he deserves, he probably would not have become Vader in the first place. Powers and Abilities Powers *'The Force:' As the Chosen One, Anakin was immensely powerful and had an amazingly strong connection to the Force, stronger than any Force user ever in existence. He also possessed the potential to become the most powerful Force user in the history of the galaxy; according to Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin's Force potential surpassed that of even Yoda. Anakin's Force potential is rivaled only by son, Luke Skywalker. **'Telekinesis:' Anakin utilized Telekinesis either as offensive or defense. **'Force choke:' Anakin utilized Force choke to either weaken or intimidate his opponents. **'Mind control:' Anakin utilized Mind control, to control the minds of other sentient beings, however, it did not work on individuals who have very strong wills. **'Beast Control:' Anakin utilized Beast Control, to control the minds of other animals. **'Force healing:' Anakin utilized Force healing, to heal himself or other sentient beings. **'Dampen Force:' Anakin utilized Dampen Force to temporarily block certain force powers such as; Force push or Force pull. **'Force Jump:' Anakin utilized Force Jump, to jump or leap at great distances. **'Force speed:' Anakin utilized Force speed, to move at amazing speed. **'Force vision:' Anakin utilized Force vision, to have visions of the past, the present and the future; however, like all force users, his visions were not always clear or sometimes had visions even when he was not utilizing this power at will. **'Force sense:' Anakin utilized Force sense, to sense another sentient being's emotions, the future, ripples in the Force caused by momentous or traumatic events, or impending danger and the presence of the dark side. **'Force barrier:' Anakin utilized Force barrier, to created a barrier or wall of force energy around himself or his allies. **'Force rage:' Anakin utilized Force rage to channel his anger to increase his speed, strength, ferocity and to overwhelmed his opponents. Abilities *'Lightsaber Skills:' Anakin was extremely skilled in lightsaber combat and a very gifted duelist. Anakin used his Force powers to increase his physical speed and agility to make his lightsaber skills more lethal in combat; this made him a formidable opponent in single combat. He also possessed the potential to become the greatest lightsaber duelist in the history of the galaxy. **'Form I:' Anakin was highly skilled in Shii-Cho. **'Form IV:' Anakin was extremely skilled in Ataru. **'Form V:' Anakin was a master of Shien/Djem So, considered by many to be the most proficient practitioner of the style. **'Form VI:' Anakin was highly skilled in Niman. **'Jar'Kai: '''Although Anakin was trained in Jar'Kai by Obi-Wan Kenobi, he was not very skilled at it, due to the fact that he did not practice with it much, as he was working on this mostly as an exercise in control, and was doubtful that he would ever need to apply it. Anakin's assumption was proven wrong when he wielded two lightsabers against Dooku during the First Battle of Geonosis; though he was able to briefly catch the Sith Lord off guard, his lack of skill at dual-blade combat resulted in him losing his second lightsaber in mere seconds. During the Clone Wars, Anakin's skills in Jar'Kai greatly improved to the point where he was able to defeat the recently turn Dark Jedi Barriss Offee with little difficulty, thus becoming much more proficient with dual lightsabers. *'Master Hand-To-Hand Combatant:' Anakin was very skilled in unarmed combat. *'Master Marksman:' Anakin was highly proficient in the use of blaster pistols. *'Master Pilot:' Anakin was extremely skilled in piloting various speeders and most types of flying craft. He was the best star-pilot in the history of the galaxy. *'Master Engineer:' Even as a child, Anakin was amazingly skilled in engineering for someone of his age. At the age of nine, he was able to successfully build his own podracer. At the age of thirteen, he was able to successfully construct his first blue bladed lightsaber in his first try. *'Genius-Level Intellect/Master Tactician/Leader:' Even as a child, Anakin was amazingly intelligent for someone of his age. His intelligence and wisdom rivalled that of even Yoda. As a Jedi General, Anakin was a highly skilled tactician and a very capable leader. *'Multilingual:' Anakin was capable of fluently speaking English, Huttese and Bitt. Weapons and Equipment Lightsabers Anakin's valued weapon and possession was his blue lightsaber. *'First Lightsaber:' Anakin built his first blue lightsaber on Ilum, it would remain in his possession until it was destroyed on Geonosis in the Separatist Droid Factory while fighting Geonosian soldiers; during Anakin and Padmé's attempt to rescue Obi-Wan Kenobi. He briefly fought Dooku with two borrowed lightsabers until he was defeated by the Sith. *'Second Lightsaber:' Anakin built a slightly different blue lightsaber and used it throughout his Jedi career and the entirety of the Clone Wars. He used this weapon through ''Revenge of the Sith, even after having fallen to the Dark Side and throughout the fall of the Galactic Republic. He lost this weapon to Obi-Wan when he was heavily mutilated on Mustafar, leading to the latter keeping it for nineteen years after. Luke Skywalker was given this weapon after meeting Obi-Wan and used it while part of the Rebel Alliance. Luke had no proper training and was forced to improvise his attacks with it. He lost it in his duel with Darth Vader, causing it to fall down Cloud City's airshafts. It then resurfaced and ended up in the hands of Maz Kanata, Finn and then Rey, the two latters who both fought Kylo Ren with it. Film Appearances ''The Phantom Menace'' Anakin Skywalker appears as a nine-year-old slave. He is raised on the planet Tatooine by his mother, Shmi Skywalker, who says Anakin had no father, implying miraculous birth. He is a gifted pilot and engineer, and has the ability to "see things before they happen". He even creates his own protocol droid, C-3PO. Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn meets him after an emergency landing on Tatooine and becomes convinced the boy is the "Chosen One", foretold by a Jedi prophecy as the one who will bring balance to the Force. Anakin wins his freedom in a podrace, but is forced to part with his mother. Qui-Gon takes Anakin to the Jedi Council, who forbid training on the grounds that the boy's future is clouded by the fear he exhibits. During the invasion of Naboo, Anakin helps defeat the Trade Federation by destroying their command ship. After Qui-Gon is killed in a duel with Sith Lord Darth Maul, his apprentice, the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, promises to train Anakin, a proposal the Jedi Council reluctantly accepts. During the film, Anakin forms a close bond with Padmé Amidala, Naboo's queen. Palpatine, newly elected as the Republic's Supreme Chancellor, befriends the boy, telling him that "we will watch your career with great interest". ''Attack of the Clones'' Set 10 years later, depicts Anakin as Obi-Wan's apprentice. Palpatine assigns Anakin and Obi-Wan to investigate an assassination attempt made on Padmé, who is now a senator. Anakin travels with her to Naboo, where they fall in love. Anakin has a vision of his mother in pain, and goes to Tatooine, where he learns that Shmi had been kidnapped by Tusken Raiders weeks ago. He goes to the Tusken camp, where he discovers his mother has been tortured beyond saving by the tribe; she dies in his arms. Heartbroken, Anakin flies into a violent rage and slaughters every single Tusken raider; men, women and even children. He returns with his mother's body, and tearfully confesses his deed to Padmé, who comforts him. Soon after, Anakin and Padmé travel to Geonosis, hoping to rescue Obi-Wan from Jedi-turned-Sith Lord Count Dooku and his army of battle droids and Geonosisians; instead, they are captured and sentenced to death. Anakin and Padmé profess their love for each other before being rescued by an army of clone troopers and Jedi. After fighting in a vicious battle, Anakin follows Dooku to a hangar and loses his right forearm in a lightsaber duel with him; it is later replaced with a prosthetic. Anakin and Padmé then marry in a secret ceremony. ''Revenge of the Sith'' Three years later, Anakin is a Jedi Knight and hero of the Clone Wars. He and Obi-Wan lead an attempt to rescue Palpatine, who has been captured by Count Dooku and Separatist commander General Grievous. During the rescue, Anakin defeats Dooku in a lightsaber duel and executes him in cold blood on Palpatine's orders. When he returns to Coruscant, he meets with Padmé, who tells him she is pregnant with his child. That night, he has a vision of Padmé dying in childbirth; he fears it will come true, as it is similar to the visions he had of his mother before her death. Meanwhile, Palpatine names Anakin his personal representative on the Jedi Council. The Council, suspicious of Palpatine's dictatorial power in the Senate, denies Anakin the rank of Jedi Master, and orders him to spy on Palpatine, whom Anakin considers a friend and mentor. Confused and angered by the perceived snub and the instructions to commit what he believes to be treason, Anakin begins to lose faith in the Jedi. Palpatine eventually reveals to Anakin that he is Darth Sidious, the Sith mastermind behind the war, and that the dark side of the Force holds the power to save Padmé's life. Conflicted, Anakin reports Palpatine's treachery to Jedi Master Mace Windu. Despite orders to remain behind, Anakin follows Mace to the Chancellor's office to ensure Palpatine is captured alive. He walks in on the Jedi Master, ready to kill Palpatine and intervenes on the Sith's behalf, severing Mace's lightsaber arm; Palpatine then kills Mace with a blast of Force lightning. Desperate to save his wife and seeing nowhere else to go, Anakin pledges himself to the Order of the Sith Lords as Palpatine's apprentice, being renamed Darth Vader. On Palpatine's orders, Vader leads the 501st Legion to kill everyone in the Jedi Temple and then assassinates the Separatist leaders on Mustafar. Padmé meets him there and pleads with him to flee Palpatine's grasp with her. He refuses, saying that his powers are growing enough so that he can overthrow Palpatine and rule the galaxy with her, offering her to fulfill her idealistic visions of a better galaxy. When Obi-Wan emerges from Padmé's ship, Vader accuses her of conspiring against him and uses the Force to choke her into unconsciousness. Vader then engages his former master in a vicious lightsaber duel, which ends when Obi-Wan severs Vader's legs and left arm. Vader slides too close to a lava river and catches fire, sustaining life-threatening third-degree burns all over his body. With bitter regret, Obi-Wan takes his former pupil's lightsaber and leaves him to die. Shortly afterwards, Sidious finds the crippled and disfigured Vader, and has him taken back to Coruscant, where his burned body is reconstructed with the cybernetic limbs and black armor first seen in A New Hope. When Vader regains consciousness, Palpatine tells him Padmé died as a result of Vader's anger. The news of her death breaks what remains of Vader's good spirit, and he screams in despair. He is last seen alongside the Emperor and a young Grand Moff Tarkin viewing the construction of the first Death Star, setting up A New Hope. ''Return of the Jedi'' 23 years later, in Return of the Jedi, Anakin redeems himself by killing Palpatine, who was really the true traitor and enemy of the Galactic Republic that Mace Windu warned him about, as well as the true reason for his wife's death. Refusing to watch his only son die, he hurls his former master over a pit's railing, avenging Padmé, his past crimes, and himself. However, Palpatine's lightning shorts out Anakin's life-support system, mortally wounding him. He dies in Luke's arms, after looking at his son "with his own eyes". Later, he appears to Luke as a spirit, along with Yoda and Obi-Wan. Television Appearance ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars Anakin Skywalker appeared as one of the main characters of ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In the series he was voiced by Matt Lanter, and took on an apprentice known as Ahsoka Tano. ''Star Wars Rebels While his alternate form, Darth Vader, appears as a recurring character in the series, Anakin Skywalker does appear twice in the second season episode, "Shroud of Darkness". He was once again voiced by Matt Lanter, who originally provided Anakin's voice in the show's predecessor. In "Shroud of Darkness", Anakin is first seen as a holocron recording, teaching different lightsaber tactics. He later appears as a vision in the Jedi Temple on Lothal, tormenting Ahsoka for leaving him. It is then that the image of Anakin becomes that of Darth Vader. Tormented and in tears, Ahsoka finally learns the fate of her former master. Video games Disney INFINITY Anakin Skywalker appears in ''Disney INFINITY's third installment as a playable character. He is playable in the Toy Box and the Twilight of the Republic Play Set, where he helps Obi-Wan, Ahsoka Tano and Yoda to battle General Grievous and defeat Darth Maul. He can also be used in the other Star Wars play sets if his crossover coins in each play set are collected. Portrayals Sebastian Shaw appeared in the final scenes of Return of the Jedi when he was unmasked by Luke and died in his arms. He later appeared as the ghost of Anakin along with Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi. This scene was later edited so the Hayden Christensen Anakin appeared as his ghost. Jake Lloyd was chosen from over 3000 prospective child actors to play Anakin in The Phantom Menace. Casting director Robin Gurland initially thought Lloyd was too young to play the role; however, upon another meeting several years later, Gurland believed Lloyd was an appropriate choice for the part. Hayden Christensen portrayed the older Anakin in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith; he also donned Darth Vader's armor for the final scenes of the latter film. Mat Lucas voiced Anakin for the 2003 Clone Wars animated TV series and in various Star Wars video games, while Matt Lanter voiced the character in the CGI The Clone Wars film and subsequent 2008 The Clone Wars animated TV series. For the 2004 Special Edition DVD release of Return of the Jedi, Hayden Christensen reprised his role as Anakin, with the look and appearance he had in Revenge of the Sith, by replacing Sebastian Shaw as Anakin's spirit in the final scene of the film during the celebration of the fall of the Empire. Disney Parks Anakin Skywalker appears as a meetable character at Disney's Hollywood Studios during Star Wars Weekends at the Walt Disney World Resort. Relationships Gallery Trivia *Anakin Skywalker was named after Ken Annakin, the director of Disney's 1960 live-action movie, Swiss Family Robinson, one of George Lucas' favorite Disney movies. * According with J. J. Abrams, Anakin was planned to appear in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as a Force Ghost. However, the idea was scrapped, and the only references to Anakin was a mention and his helmet of Darth Vader. ** Also, Disney confirmed that in the rest of the ''Star Wars'' sequel trilogy, Anakin will not appear in the remaining films. 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